Stephen Drew has played just four games for the Red Sox since rejoining the team after sitting out the first two months of the season, which is why it seems odd that he’s sitting out tonight’s game against the Orioles.

Not only are the Red Sox facing a right-handed pitcher–which is a good matchup for the left-handed-hitting Drew–but that pitcher is Bud Norris and Drew is a career .462 hitter with a 1.357 OPS in 17 plate appearances off him.

Xander’s error was another big one last night. That’s why Stephen Drew was signed. Between Middlebrooks and Bogaerts, the errors were stunning. Bogaerts needed a little competition. If it wasn’t for Ortiz’s home run in the final inning, that error would have cost them the game. Well, that and the lack of offense, to be fair.

They need his bat in the line up, but he needs his focus in the field. I’m still excited and looking forward to the production of Stephen Drew.

Once again, a lot of RS fans were clamoring for this guy to come back to Boston when Middlebrooks and Bogaerts were one hot mess.

tfbuckfutter - Jun 9, 2014 at 5:15 PM

That’s because a lot of RS fans are impatient and stupid.

Rookies need to work through struggles to get better. Sox fans who believed this season was going to be a repeat are idiots with unrealistic expectations.

It was supposed to be a season for growth, and if everything broke right, maybe a run. But abandoning youth to sign an injury prone peaked veteran to take time away from the players who need to work to get better is idiotic. Especially when the team is CLEARLY not constructed to compete this yer. It’s counterproductive.

Does this mean Bogaerts is third everyday and Herrara is SS and Holt LF/1st?

tfbuckfutter - Jun 9, 2014 at 5:18 PM

And as for his glove, super.

You know who else had a great glove? Rey Ordonez. He also had a career .600 OPS.

Drew’s OPS in the playoffs last year was around .350. I don’t remember his defense being 45% better than Rey Ordonez’ defense generally way. And that’s how much better he’d have had to been on defense to be EQUAL to what Rey Ordonez regularly provided.

And nobody ever won anything with Rey Ordonez.

playball - Jun 9, 2014 at 6:26 PM

The team should have been constructed much better during the off season. They obviously saw the glaring holes. But, they chose not to do anything about it. You can let the rookies struggle and grow, but you need to have veterans that are able to handle the workload as those rookies go through the peaks and valleys.

The RS brass made their choices. They knew what they let go and what they let in. Realistically, you just can’t expect the same production. How can Bradley, Jr. be able to learn his stroke when there are so many rookies around him searching their way? The regular veterans aren’t producing like they had. They played hard last year. Victorino played real hard and had a monster year and is paying the price this year. The Sox had to know these things if the fans did. The rotation is a mystery. After Lester, Lackey and Peavy (scary at times) Doubront and Bucholz, when up lasted 5 innings, if we were lucky. So, two days in a row, the bullpen was bulldozed. Point is, we needed to bring in guys and not just rely on a bridge year. My opinion. I don’t believe in bridge years. I want the team to compete and am not be complacent to wait it out. The RS were stingy and could have made trades or spent. They chose not to.

On another note. Can they clone Brock Holt?

playball - Jun 9, 2014 at 6:31 PM

I bet Rey won a dream come true being a major leaguer. So, someone won.

And Rey’s wallet won. It got a little bigger. That was cool.

tfbuckfutter - Jun 9, 2014 at 7:04 PM

You need bridge years for the long term health of the organization.

Ideally you work youngsters in slowly while still being competitive, but don’t forget how god-awful this team was in 2012. 2013 shouldn’t have been a whole lot better, but they got very lucky with all the vets performing at their max potential. You can’t count on that every year. Which is why this was a bridge year. Because those guys are still on the team and certainly aren’t going to perform BETTER than they had. You need bridge years in that situation to get the young guys work, otherwise you’re constantly burying them in AAA because you keep signing guys like Ryan Sweeney and playing Darnell McDonald because you have to win every season so mediocre no-potential options are better options TODAY than planning for the future.

Unless, as I’ve mentioned before, you prefer seeing guys like Brandon Moss develop once they are no longer being buried in AAA and given a chance to play. Sink or swim on some of these guys, but you have to know what you have unless you want to keep throwing ever increasing salaries at ever decreasingly skilled players in the open market.

playball - Jun 9, 2014 at 7:27 PM

Debbie Downer. Turn that frown upside-down.

2013 wasn’t supposed to be good. That’s your opinion. I believe every year they are going to be good.

I didn’t say anything about keeping ‘em all down in AAA. I can’t wait to see Betts make that move up here.

I’ll just keep it pretty simple. The team should have upgraded and fixed the holes. Given vets opportunities to work and some youth to transition. Not all vets are great and not all youth is.

And by vets, to clarify, they don’t have to have 10 + years of service, in my opinion.

Second inning. I want to focus more on the game.

tfbuckfutter - Jun 9, 2014 at 7:57 PM

But you don’t know what holes need to be plugged until you know what pegs you already have.

Jackie Bradley Jr. COULD be hitting .360 right now. He’s obviously been very disappointing, but his potential suggested he was worth putting in there at Centerfield.

How do you know he’s .200 and not .360 until he actually plays? THAT is plugging a hole. It’s just a misjudgment….which happens on with veterans too if you’d like to take a look at the starting $75,000,000 catcher for the NYY.

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! This is the worst move ever. You need him. You want him. You know you do. He’s the marshmallow topping on your skid sundae. The jello treat on your hospital tray of last year’s dreams. He’s your soul-star. Let him shine. Let him shine. Let him shine!

I’d be willing to to bet Bogaerts will be more valuable to his team with his + offense and his mediocre/below average defense than Drew with his above average defense and below average offense (and terrible hitting vs. Lefties)

Something that bothers me is Drew defenders always point out his defense like he was Ozzie Smith. If you never saw him play and listened to some of these people you would think he made every out on the field. Is he good? Yes is he great? Not even top 5 in the game now

Completely agree about the front office being blamed. They Needed an outfielder and they decided to take on the Grady Sizemore reclamation project instead of getting a real player. Nelson Cruz got 1 year 8m… they telling me Grady at 2m (1) was a better investment than Cruz at 8m? No excuse for that terrible Outfield even if Victorino was healthy